Case Studies – Mortgage Help

Mortgage arrears?

A husband and wife were in mortgage arrears as a result of lending money to their son to support his business. The couple were unable to service the debt on the loan taken out on their property, and as a result their home was at risk of repossession by their lender.

We arranged for an advocate instructed by solicitors to be briefed by us and to attend court on their behalf. The advocate argued that the equity in the property allowed for repayments to be made over the rest of the term of the mortgage, and that the repayments were realistic when persuasive evidence of regular third party repayments by their son were also taken into account as part of their monthly disposable income.

The court made a suspended possession order that allowed the couple to remain in their home whilst repaying the debt over the remaining term of the mortgage.

Want to stop repossession?

A landlord that owned several buy-to-let properties was in mortgage arrears, and the bank issued separate court proceedings to gain possession of his property. The landlord wanted to sell one of the properties in order to redeem the mortgage. The bank refused to allow more time for him to sell the property, insisting that it was in negative equity, and that allowing the landlord any more time would simply create a greater debt to the bank.

We gathered further evidence that the property was not in negative equity and arranged for an advocate instructed by solicitors to attend the court hearing.

The court granted a 3-month adjournment with a return hearing listed, which could be cancelled to save costs at the agreement of the parties. This enabled the landlord to sell the property, pay off the bank without any further debt, and avoid a negative credit rating.

Bank trying to evict?

A retired couple had a possession order made against them as a result of not attending the original possession hearing. The bank then sought to enforce the possession order by applying for a warrant of possession, which meant that a date was set for county court bailiffs to attend the property to evict them.

We helped the couple make an application to the court to have the possession order suspended and the warrant of possession stayed, on the basis that they would pay an affordable series of additional monthly repayments on top of their monthly mortgage payment.

As a result the court allowed the couple to stay in the property so long as the current monthly instalment plus £80 was made each month, which allowed the mortgage arrears to be paid off in just over 2 years.

County court hearing?

Court proceedings were already underway when we were asked to help a property owner to defend a mortgage possession claim at court. We arranged for an advocate to attend the court hearing instructed by solicitors.

The advocate attended the hearing and sought an adjournment on the grounds that the formalities relating to giving notice to the tenants living at the property and giving notice to the local authority had not been carried out correctly, and that no mortgage arrears statement had been provided to the borrower according to the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules.

The Judge granted an adjournment that enabled the property owner to arrange a repayment plan with the lender and retain possession of the property.

Repayment plan refused?

A homeowner who was in mortgage arrears with his bank was asked by the bank to set up a repayment plan to pay off the arrears. The bank then refused to accept the money he was offering in addition to his monthly repayment, and brought court proceedings to recover possession of the property.

We liaised with the bank with the permission of the landlord and provided new income and expenditure details, pointing out that the bank was in breach of the mortgage possession pre-action protocol.

The bank accepted the new repayment plan and agreed to ask the court that the hearing be adjourned generally with permission to restore, with the claim struck out if not restored after one year.

Possession Statistics

We are the only company that publishes its possession statistics, updated monthly. Online possession claims: 92.7% successful possession at first hearing. Accelerated claims: 98.1% successful possession, and 77.5% without a hearing.